Having spent the day in Cape Town, I was running a bit late and decided to take the scenic route home and avoid the beginnings of a traffic jam through the southern suburbs. I would probably have taken the Atlantic seaboard road anyway, as it is one of my favourite drives - it's a view you just can't grow tired of - and the stifling heat in town had me longing for the sea breeze blowing my hair back. Imagine my disappointment as I crested the rise at Kloofnek and dropped over into Camps Bay, only to find myself enveloped in a thick sea mist that was climbing the slopes of Table Mountain and the Twelve Apostles, completely obscuring any view. I could just as well have sat in the traffic for all the benefit I was getting, although it's true that the sea breeze was cool.
If I was disappointed, how much more so must the tourists in the open-top red buses have been. They've travelled thousands of miles from all over the world to see what Cape Town has to offer and they only have today to do the Peninsula trip. They might as well have toured London in a pea souper for all they could see. We Capetonians love to show off our city in all its natural beauty and feel cheated when people go away with unmet expectations.
As always, at the end of a cloudy or misty day, the setting sun bathes the mountains in golden light, and I can see the sunlight glinting off the windows of the upper cablestation from my deck here in Kommetjie. Perhaps I should offer it as a viewing sight for tourists. There is always something interesting to see from my perch!
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